Energy supply and consumption (excl. industry)http://www.climatetechwiki.org/taxonomy/term/60/all
enPrivate Vehicle Demand Managementhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/vehicle-demand-management
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Mark Bachels, National PlaceMaking Executive, Environment and Planning, Parsons Brinckerhoff </div>
<div class="field-item even">
Robert Salter, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development, Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Perth, Western Australia </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/vehicle-demand-management" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="683" height="410" title="Calle Florida Street, Buenos Aires, like pedestrian streets the world over, is an attractive, multi-purpose living space, and not just a walking route. (Picture credit: Luis Argerich)" alt="Calle Florida Street, Buenos Aires" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/vehicle_demand_management.jpg?1325148238" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p align="left">Reducing private vehicle use, or curtailing its growth, is vitally important if our world is to reduce levels of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Examples from around the world demonstrate that it <em>can</em> be achieved. It is generally only achieved when other transport options are good, and when travellers are helped to realise that they don’t have to be dependent on cars or other private vehicles to get around.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p align="left">While the use of private vehicles – cars, trucks, motorcycles and motor scooters – is much lower in the developing than the developed world, this is changing with existing rapid economic growth in some developing countries, and the likelihood of such growth in others. Given the much higher levels of greenhouse gas emitted from private vehicles than from mass transit and non-motorised transport, it is imperative that rates of private vehicle usage be dramatically reduced in developed countries, and prevented from reaching high levels in the developing world. This can be done in ways that enable developing cities to be better places to live and work as traffic congestion is a chronic issue for health and the economy. The switch from private vehicles to mass transit can significantly reduce overall travel levels. This&nbsp;technology description&nbsp;deals with measures that can be taken to reduce private vehicle use, or to curtail its increase, whilst enabling transport development goals to be achieved. The measures are:</p><ul><li><div align="left">behaviour change programs</div></li><li><div align="left">parking policy</div></li><li><div align="left">other price incentives and disincentives</div></li><li><div align="left">restricting areas within which private vehicles can travel</div></li><li><div align="left">street design and traffic calming measures</div></li><li><div align="left">car-pooling</div></li><li><div align="left">car-sharing schemes.</div></li></ul><p align="left">The seperate technology description <a href="/technology/erp" rel="nofollow">'Electronic Road Pricing'</a> describe this related measure in more detail.</p><p align="left">With the exception of car-pooling and car-sharing, the measures described here will only be effective in reducing private vehicle use if other means of transport – namely, public transit and walking and cycling facilities – are available when and where people need them, or if information and communication technology (ICT) can be used in place of travel.</p><p align="left">All of these measures have been implemented in many parts of the world, and examples of their use are described in this section. In general, they have so far been applied much more in the developed than the developing world, because car dependence and its adverse consequences are much worse there. But efforts are now being made to introduce demand management measures in developing countries, and some examples are included here.</p><p align="left">Private vehicles transport both people and goods. This section focuses on reducing the demand for passenger vehicles; freight vehicles are covered in the technology description 'Freight'.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<ol><li>P Newman &amp; J Kenworthy, Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, Island Press, Washington DC, 1999.</li><li>Robert Cervero et al., ‘Influences of Built Environments on Walking and Cycling: Lessons from Bogotá’, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 3: 4, 203 — 226, 2009.</li><li>Cambridge Systematics (2009), Moving Cooler: Transportation Strategies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Urban Land Institute, <a href="http://www.movingcooler.info" title="www.movingcooler.info" rel="nofollow">www.movingcooler.info</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011, and summarised at <a href="http://commerce.uli.org/misc/movingcoolerexecsum.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://commerce.uli.org/misc/movingcoolerexecsum.pdf</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Todd Litman, Transportation Elasticities: How Prices and Other Factors Affect Travel Behavior, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2011, <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/elasticities.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.vtpi.org/elasticities.pdf</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Personal communication with Colin Ashton-Graham, Department of Transport, Western Australia.</li><li>Paul Barter, Parking Policy in Asian Cities, Asian Development Bank, 2010 <a href="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0ByEszG9z8sBUYTBhNzdmZmQtNjc3Zi00MmRkLWIzMWEtZWUxNGY0ODJmODRi&amp;hl=en&amp;authkey=CN6Rg-0J" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0ByEszG9z8sBUYTBhNzdmZmQtNjc3Zi00MmRkLWIzMWEtZWUxNGY0ODJmODRi&amp;hl=en&amp;authkey=CN6Rg-0J</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Donald C. Shoup, ‘The High Cost of Free Parking’, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 17: 3-20, 1997.</li><li>Tom Rye, ‘Parking Management: A Contribution Towards Liveable Cities’, 2010, Sustainable Transport: A Sourcebook for Policy-makers in Developing Cities, GIZ, <a href="http://www.sutp.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.sutp.org</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>&nbsp;‘London Congestion Charging: Impacts Monitoring 5th Annual Report 2007’, Transport for London, <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/fifth-annual-impacts-monitoring-report-2007-07-07.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/fifth-annual-impacts-monitoring-report-2007-07-07.pdf</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Karlson Hargroves, Associate Professor, Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute, Western Australia, personal communication.</li><li>Tom Rye, ‘Mobility Management at the Employer Level’, Napier University, March 2005</li><li>Rye</li><li>&nbsp;‘Car-Free Planning’, Online TDM Encyclopedia, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm6.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm6.htm</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>K Hargroves &amp; M Smith, The Natural Advantage of Nations, The Natural Edge Project, Earthscan, London, 2005.</li><li>Rye</li><li>Rye.</li><li>Abu Dhabi Urban Street Design Manual, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, 2009, <a href="http://www.upc.gov.ae/guidelines/urban-streetdesign-manual.aspx?lang=en-US" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.upc.gov.ae/guidelines/urban-streetdesign-manual.aspx?lang=en-US</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Rye.</li><li>‘ St George Street Revitalization: “Road Diets” in Toronto’, Transport Canada, <a href="http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-st-1171.georgestreetrevitalization.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-st-1171.georgestreetrevitalization.htm</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>‘Car pooling for the planet’, Green living tips, 18 Sept 2009, <a href="http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/150/1/Car-pooling-forthe-planet.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/150/1/Car-pooling-forthe-planet.html</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>George Brown, Department of Planning, Western Australia, personal communication.</li><li>Car Sharing: An overview, Australian Govt (Dept of Heritage and the Environment, Australian Greenhouse Office), <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/archive/settlements/transport/publications/carsharing.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.environment.gov.au/archive/settlements/transport/publications/carsharing.html</a>, viewed 23 Feb 2011.</li><li>Car Sharing: An overview.</li><li>For example, Car Sharing: An overview</li></ol><p><strong>Source: </strong></p><p align="left">Salter, R.,&nbsp;S. Dhar, and P. Newman (Eds.) (2011). Technologies for Climate Change&nbsp;Mitigation –Transport Sector. UNEP Risø Centre, Roskilde, March 2011, available at&nbsp;<a href="http://tech-action.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://tech-action.org/</a></p><p align="left">(The authors of this technology description&nbsp;would like to acknowledge the support received from George Brown, Paul Barter and Tammy Laughren in writing this description.)</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/vehicle-demand-management" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/vehicle-demand-management#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Large scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesTransportTransport: travel behaviour and organisationEnergy savingQuality AssuranceThu, 29 Dec 2011 09:17:30 +0000lauraw5905 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgCool roofshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cool-roofs
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Asian Institute of Technology </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/cool-roofs" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="409" height="237" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/cool_roof.jpg?1392628130" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Cool roofs can help reduce the heat island effect and also help improving the energy performance of the buildings. A cool roof can reflect the sun’s heat and emits absorbed radiation back into the atmosphere at a higher rate than standard materials. The cool roofs technology has been used for more than 20 years (EPA, 2012). The cool roof basically helps in reflecting sunlight and heat, thus reducing the temperature of the roofs. 20-­‐25% of the urban surface is reported to be occupied by roof surface.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>The effect of global warming and climate change are matters of concern for the global community, and impacts both rural and urban areas. The world population is expected to increase by 2.3 billion between 2011 and 2050 (United Nations, 2011) and the population living in urban areas is projected to increase from 3.6 billion in 2011 to 6.3 billion 2050. In Asia, it is expected that half of the population will live in urban areas by 2020, while Africa is likely to reach a 50% urbanization rate in 2035 (United Nations, 2012).</p><p>One of the more effects in the urban areas is due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The UHI can impact issues like public health, environmental hazards, quality of life, etc. The relative warmth of city compared to the rural areas is called as UHI. The changes in landscape i.e. buildings, roads, and other infrastructure replace open land and vegetation causes the surfaces to become impermeable and dry. The UHI effect tends to be strongest during the day when the sun is shining. On a sunny/hot day, the urban space (roofs, pavements) are exposed to sun which can bring the temperature of these areas to around 27–50°C hotter than the air.</p><p>The GHG emission reduction potential by the cool roofs is by energy saving which leads to reduced energy demand and hence cutting down the emissions. Akbari et al., 2011 found that changing the black roof to white roof can help in saving of 0.066-­‐0.072 kWh/m2/day. The normalized energy saving for per unit of reflectance reduction will be 0.11-­‐0.12 kWh/m2/day. It is estimated that white roofs increase solar reflectance by 0.40 helping reducing 100t/100m2 of CO2 emissions. Similarly, colored roofs can help mitigate 5t/100m2 of CO2 emissions which has solar reflectance of about 0.20 (Akbari et al., 2009).</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Akbari, H., Tengfang X., Haider T., Craig W., Jayant S., Vishal G., Surekha T., M. Hari Babu, and K. Niranjan Reddy, (2011). Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Urban Heat-­‐island Effects: Findings from an India Experiment. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Report.</p><p>Akbari, H., Menon, S. and Rosenfeld, A. (2009). Global cooling: increasing world-­‐wide urban albedos to offset CO2. Climatic Change. 95 (3–4), doi: 10.1007/s10584-­‐ 008-­‐9515-­‐9.</p><p>Akbari, H., and Matthews, H.D. (2012). Global cooling updates: Reflective roofs and pavements. Energy and Buildings.55, pp. 2-­‐6.</p><p>Akbari, H. &amp; Rosenfelf, A. ( 2008). White Roofs Cool the World, Directly Offset CO2 and Delay Global Warming. LBNL Heat Island Group. Available at: <a href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-999-2008-031/CEC-999-2008-031.PDF" title="http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-999-2008-031/CEC-999-2008-031.PDF" rel="nofollow">http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-999-2008-031/CEC-999-2008-...</a></p><p>Akbari, H., Tengfang X., Haider T., Craig W., Jayant S., Vishal G., Surekha T., M. Hari Babu, and Reddy, K. N. (2011). Using Cool Roofs to Reduce Energy Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Urban Heat-­‐island Effects: Findings from an India Experiment. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Report.</p><p>APEC. (2011). Cool Roofs In APEC Economies: Review Of Experience, Best Practices And Potential Benefits. Singapore.</p><p>Berdahl P. and Bretz, S. (1997). Preliminary survey of the solar reflectance of cool roofing materials. Energy and Buildings. 25:149-­‐158.</p><p>California Energy Commission. 2008. “2008 Building energy efficiency standards for residential and nonresidential buildings.” December. Available at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-­‐400-­‐2008-­‐001/CEC-­‐400-­‐2008-­‐001-­‐ CMF.PDF</p><p>Mathews, R., (2012). ‘ Three types of cool roofs’ Available at: http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/2012/07/three-­‐types-­‐of-­‐cool-­‐roofs.html.</p><p>Zinzi, M. and Angoli, S. (2012). Cool and green roofs. An energy and comfort comparison between passive cooling and mitigation urban heat island techniques for residential buildings in the Mediterranean region. Energy and Buildings. Vol. 55, pp. 66–76.</p><p>EPA. (2008). Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies. Available at: <a href="http://www.epa.gov/hiri/resources/pdf/CoolRoofsCompendium.pdf" title="http://www.epa.gov/hiri/resources/pdf/CoolRoofsCompendium.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.epa.gov/hiri/resources/pdf/CoolRoofsCompendium.pdf</a></p><p>EPA. (2012). Cool Roofs. Available at: <a href="http://www.epa.gov/hiri/mitigation/coolroofs.htm" title="http://www.epa.gov/hiri/mitigation/coolroofs.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.epa.gov/hiri/mitigation/coolroofs.htm</a></p><p>Konopacki, S., and H. Akbari (2002). Energy Savings for Heat Island Reduction Strategies in Chicago and Houston (Including Updates for Baton Rouge, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City). Paper LBNL-­‐49638. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA.</p><p>Synnefa, A. and Santamouris, M. (2009). ‘Promotion of Cool Roofs in the EU-­‐The Cool Roofs Project’, Group Building Environments Studies, Greece. Accesses at: 20 December 2012. Available at: http://heatisland2009.lbl.gov/docs/231120-­‐synnefa-­‐doc.pdf</p><p>Tetali, S. (2011). Assessment of cool roof technology for its energy performance in buildings. (Masters research study, International Institute of Information Technology, 2011). Hyderabad: International Institute of Information Technology.</p><p>Urban, B. &amp; Roth, K. (2010). Guidelines for Selecting Cool Roofs. Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems for the U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Program and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Vol. 1.2. Available at: <a href="http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/coolroofguide.pdf" title="http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/coolroofguide.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pdfs/coolroofguide.pdf</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cool-roofs" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cool-roofs#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy efficiencyQuality AssuranceMon, 17 Feb 2014 09:22:29 +0000Erwin Hofman8040 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgCellulosic ethanolhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cellulosic-ethanol
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Asian Institute of Technology </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/cellulosic-ethanol" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="640" height="426" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/cellulosic_ethanol.jpg?1392626375" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Cellulosic ethanol is an alcohol produced from the feedstock available in wide variety of plant materials and agricultural residues. Although chemically identical with the first generation bioethanol, it differs in the use of raw material. Hence cellulosic ethanol differs from the conventional ethanol in its use of feedstock and the process implied at the different stages of production.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Identified as a more potent in its net energy content which is three times more than the corn ethanol, and emission of low net level of greenhouse gases, cellulose ethanol exhibits a net energy content three times higher than corn ethanol and emits a low net level of greenhouse gases, R&amp;D in cellulosic ethanol is relentlessly moving towards developing a low cost and efficient and domestically produced substitute to the fossil fuel.</p><p>Unlike the first generation bioethanol in which the sugar and starch derived from the crops like corn, sugar beet, sugar cane, wheat is used to produce alcohol, in cellulosic ethanol, agricultural plant wastes like straw, corn stover, lignocellulosic raw materials like wood chips and energy crops like miscanthus, switchgrass, as well as other by-products of lawn and tree maintenance, etc. are used. Hence, this makes cellulosic ethanol cheaper than other bioethanol (Greene 2004).</p><p>The bulk of the cellulosic biomass contains cellulose and hemicellulose and some lignin. The sugars are not easily retrievable because they exist within these cellulose and hemicelluloses as polysaccharides. The most challenging part is the breaking down of the complex polymer -polysaccharides for extracting fermentable sugars for efficient and economically viable production of cellulosic ethanol. The sugar thus extracted then can be made available to the microorganisms for fermentation process.</p><p><img src="http://climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/extra/Diagram%20of%20ethanol%20production.PNG" alt="illustration &amp;copy; climatetechwiki.org" height="188" width="622" /></p><p>Figure 1 illustrates overall process from biomass handling to process of ethanol production. There are several technologies that can be used in conversion of biomass to ethanol. The technologies can be broadly categorized in two path ways:</p><ol><li>Biochemical conversion (fermentation) through pretreatment and hydrolysis and</li><li>Thermo-chemical conversion through gasification.</li></ol><p><strong>1. Biochemical conversion</strong></p><p>The first step is to break down cellulose which requires pretreatment. In pretreatment process, hemicelluloses and lignin that surround cellulose are broken down under a moderately high-temperature, high-pressure and through use of dilute acid. This process which is called hydrolysis breaks down hemicelluloses and dissolves lignin. The lignin thus produced forms and important source of heat and electricity, hence, limiting the use of fossil fuel in the conversion process. However, the problem with lignin is that it can under certain conditions during the pretreatment, redeposit onto cellulose which ultimately reduces the yield of sugar. Also this dilute acid treatment makes the process expensive as it requires costly equipment.</p><p>It has been proven that a milder pretreatment process whereby an appropriate mixture of enzyme to the hydrolysis of hemicellulose can curb degradation of sugar and ultimately the cost of processing.</p><p>Another way of enhancing the pretreatment process has been identified as the Ammonia Fiber Explosion (AFEX) process in which the lignocellulosic biomass is treated with high-pressure liquid ammonia leading to the explosive release of the pressure and thereby rendering the lignocellulosic biomass more susceptible to the enzymatic hydrolysis (Biocycle, 2005).</p><p>The simple sugars broken down from the cellulosic materials are fermented using yeast or bacteria under ideal conditions. These microorganisms convert the sugar into ethanol and water which is called the ethanol recovery process. The water is removed through distillation. The process is similar to that of bioethanol.</p><p><strong>2. Thermo-chemical conversion</strong></p><p>In thermo-chemical conversion of cellulose into ethanol, the ligno-cellulosic raw material is broken into syngas i.e., carbon monoxide and hydrogen first applying heat and chemicals. This process is mostly appropriate when forest products and mill residues that are rich in lignin are used as feedstock and which cannot be converted by biochemical process. This process is however, complex and is similar to that of petrol refining in which contaminants (tar, sulphur, etc.) are also produced along with the syngas. The syngas are converted into ethanol which then undergoes distillation.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Abengoa Bioenergy. 2007. Cellulosic Ethanol: An Abengoa Market Perspective.Mobile Source Technical Review Subcommittee (MSTRS) meeting.Alington Va. Science. Solutions. Service available at <a href="http://www.epa.gov/air/caaac/mstrs/sept2007/standlee.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.epa.gov/air/caaac/mstrs/sept2007/standlee.pdf</a></p><p>Alspach, K. 2011. Qteros raises $22M, nears cellulosic ethanol commercialization. Mass High Tech. Available at&nbsp; <a href="http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/01/03/daily26-Qteros-raises-22M-nears-cellulosic-ethanol-commercialization.html" title="http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/01/03/daily26-Qteros-raises-22M-nears-cellulosic-ethanol-commercialization.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/01/03/daily26-Qteros-raises-22M...</a>.</p><p>Clixo. Comprehensive cellulosic ethanol report. 2010. Biozio.com,India available at <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/39378673/Comprehensive-Cellulosic-Ethanol-Report-2010" title="http://www.scribd.com/doc/39378673/Comprehensive-Cellulosic-Ethanol-Report-2010" rel="nofollow">http://www.scribd.com/doc/39378673/Comprehensive-Cellulosic-Ethanol-Repo...</a>.</p><p>Greene N (2004) Growing energy—how biofuels can help end America’s oil dependence. Natural Resources Defense Council, USA.</p><p>Greer, D. 2005. Creating Cellulosic Ethanol: Spinning Straw into Fuel. Biocycle.</p><p>IEA. 2010. Status of 2nd Generation Biofuels Demonstration Facilities. Task 39. EIA.</p><p>Lynd L (2006) Overview and evaluation of fuel ethanol production from cellulosic biomass: technology, economics, the environment, and policy. Ann Rev Energy Environ 21:403–465 available at <a href="http://www.rw.ttu.edu/2302_phillips/debatearticles/sp_2008_debates/e85con.pdf" title="http://www.rw.ttu.edu/2302_phillips/debatearticles/sp_2008_debates/e85con.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.rw.ttu.edu/2302_phillips/debatearticles/sp_2008_debates/e85co...</a>.</p><p>National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Research Advances. NREL leads the way.Cellulosic ethanol. 2007. Midwest Research Institute, Batelle, U.S.. Available at&nbsp; <a href="http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/pdfs/40742.pdf" title="http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/pdfs/40742.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/pdfs/40742.pdf</a>.</p><p>Searchinger T (2008) Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land use change. Science 319:5867.</p><p>van Zyl, W. H., L. R. Lynd, R. den Haan, and J. E. McBride.&nbsp;2007. Consolidated bioprocessing for bioethanol production usingSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Adv. Biochem. Eng. Biotechnol.&nbsp;108:205-235.</p><p>Verenium Corporation.2008. Verenium and Marubeni Advance the Development of Cellulosic Ethanol Facilities in Asia. New plant in Thailand begins operations. Verenium corporation. Available at <a href="http://ir.verenium.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=412618" rel="nofollow">http://ir.verenium.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=412618</a>.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.pewclimate.org/technology/factsheet/CellulosicEthanol" title="http://www.pewclimate.org/technology/factsheet/CellulosicEthanol" rel="nofollow">http://www.pewclimate.org/technology/factsheet/CellulosicEthanol</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cellulosic-ethanol" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/cellulosic-ethanol#commentsAgricultureEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Large scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesCroplandTransportLandBiomassTransport: vehicle and fuel technologiesAgriculture, forestry and other land useQuality AssuranceMon, 17 Feb 2014 09:01:28 +0000Erwin Hofman8039 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgSustainable community design and practiceshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/sustainable-community-design-and-practices
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/sustainable-community-design-and-practices" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="540" height="301" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/sustainable_community_teaser_image.jpg?1373271272" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>As the concept and practices of a sustainable built environment have evolved over the years, it is increasingly recognised that the scope should be expanded beyond individual buildings to the community scale. Sustainable community design and practices refer to planning, designing, building, managing and promoting social and economic development of communities to meet sustainable development objectives.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>The current accumulation of global experiences shows that any community, regardless of income level, can work toward a sustainable development vision. At the very basic level, sustainable community design and practices can focus on:</p><ol><li>Providing, rectifying and/or improving the physical built environment, sanitary and infrastructural services,and maximising the renewable resources available at the local context – e.g., sun, wind, rain, and vegetation.</li><li>Offering alternative means to generate incomes from the environment-friendly economy, such as ecotourism, local food production, waste recycling, etc.</li><li>Enhancing social conditions and community ties through joint-community projects and educational programmes.</li></ol><p>This model, termed a low income sustainable community model, is the most suitable one for lower income communities with a vision for sustainable development.</p><p>For mid- to higher-income level communities, sustainable community design and practices include the above plus the following areas of focus:</p><ol><li>High quality of life, such as sporting facilities, sustainable transportation facilities, local availability of organic food, and accessibility within walking distance to amenities such as retail stores, schools, parks, etc.</li><li>Community coherence and a low crime environment.</li><li>Community pride and identity, achievable by making community projects, such as renewable energy technologies, a landmark for a carbon neutral community.</li></ol><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>Many success stories of sustainable communities, at the lower- and higher-income levels, have been reported and have been published widely.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Smart Communities Network (2003). Ten Steps to Sustainability. [Online]: <a href="http://www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/management/tensteps.shtml" title="www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/management/tensteps.shtml" rel="nofollow">www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/management/tensteps.shtml</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/sustainable-community-design-and-practices" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/sustainable-community-design-and-practices#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Large scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy savingQuality AssuranceMon, 08 Jul 2013 08:14:38 +0000Erwin Hofman7448 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgBehaviour change catalystshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/behaviour-change-catalysts
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/behaviour-change-catalysts" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="800" height="509" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/behaviour_teaser_image.jpg?1373034771" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>An effective measure to reduce energy consumption in buildings is to deploy technologies that have the ability to influence occupants’ behaviours towards a sustainable lifestyle and being less wasteful of electricity. The characteristics of this group of technologies are to make information and data related to energy consumption visible to the occupants, and to make the benefits of being energy efficient tangible to the occupants, especially in monetary terms.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>At present, key technologies, which can be considered as behaviour change catalysts, include:</p><ol><li>Energy efficient appliances</li><li>Home area network (HAN), also known as smart home technologies</li><li>Pre-paid meters, which have been implemented in African countries as well as in parts of China and Indonesia.</li></ol><p>While energy efficient electrical appliances and pre-paid meters are proven technologies and widely implemented, HAN is a rather new technology that has the potential for future large-scale applications.</p><p><strong><em>Energy efficient appliances</em></strong> differentiate themselves from conventional appliances in terms of consuming less electricity for the same service and service quality. Key high-energy consuming appliances, such as air-conditioners, refrigerators, clothes washers, clothes dryers, water heaters, etc., are the main targets for energy efficiency improvement. In recent years, the energy consumption of standby and low-power-mode of appliances have been noted for their energy consumption. Their accumulative energy consumption globally accounts for as much as 1% of global CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and 2.2% of OECD electricity consumption (IEA, 2001). This have led to a worldwide race for research, development and production of energy efficient appliances. For example, between the late 1990s and the end of 2007, Japan’s Top Runner Program – an initiative to upgrade appliance efficiency standards in Japan –saw the efficiency standards for various appliances raised by 15% to 83%, depending on the types of appliances (Brown, 2009).</p><p><em><strong>Home area network (HAN)</strong></em> is a network within a home that connects electrical domestic appliances (i.e., HVAC, lighting, refrigerators, washing machines, water heaters, televisions, computers, etc.) to smart meters. The smart meters allow homeowners/tenants to monitor and manage their energy use and remotely monitor and control thermostats and other electric appliances through personal digital devices (computers, mobile phones, etc.).</p><p>HAN ranges from a simple in-home energy display unit to advanced energy management systems at the community and urban scale. Basic level in-home display units include programmable thermostats and automation functions for intelligent domestic appliances. They provide convenience for homeowners and also allow them to understand their energy usage patterns. At the advanced level, in-home display units are connected to smart meters for wider energy management at the community and urban scale through smart grid systems. Some key application capabilities are:</p><ol><li>Gather data about homeowners/tenants lifestyles and patterns of everyday activities</li><li>Analyse the above data and synthesise the optimal operation parameters for appliances (e.g., temperature census, automatic on or off times) to optimise energy consumption and yet suit a particular lifestyle</li><li>Carry out two-way communication with smart grid (where applicable) to exchange real time energy demand from the consumer end, feed into the grid any surplus energy, and receive electricity supply dynamic pricing (i.e., peak vs. off-peak). At this level, HAN can also assist in optimising electricity demand side that is cost effective for the homeowners and reduces peak load demand to the communal energy supply infrastructure.</li></ol><p>HAN technologies and application capabilities are still under research and development to overcome barriers for widespread implementation. These barriers include:</p><ol><li>Lack of a common protocol to facilitate the compatibility in communication among various HAN technologies/products and between HAN and a smart grid system</li><li>Lack of guarantee to prevent the possibility of data leakage that compromises homeowner/tenant privacy</li><li>Poor market penetration and user acceptability at the present.</li></ol><p><em><strong>Pre-paid meters</strong></em> have been implemented mainly in Africa as an innovative alternative to conventional electricity meters. Electricity meters measure the amount of electricity used in a building or spatial units of a building over a period of time, and displays the measurement in kilowatts per hour (kWh). The popular application of conventional electricity meters is to facilitate the reading of the amount of electricity already consumed, so that utility companies can compute the fee and charge customers accordingly. However, this procedure is reversed in the application of pre-paid meters, in which consumers are required to pay up-front for a certain amount of electricity prior to consuming it.</p><p>In other words, pre-paid meters are used to regulate the amount of electricity to be supplied to consumers. In application, consumers purchase tokens from vending machines located at convenient locations in the village/town. The tokens can then be inserted into electricity dispensers installed at each household. More advanced applications include online vending systems, which can be used in combination with electronic banking. Such systems help reduce operational costs for the utility providers, which can be translated to lower electricity costs for consumers.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>ABS Energy Research (2007). Prepayment Metering (2nd Ed.). ABS Energy Research.</p><p>Brown R. L. (2009). Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. New York: W.W. Norton &amp; Company.</p><p>IEA (2001). Things that Go Blip in the Night.: Standby Power and How to Limit It. Paris: International Energy Agency.</p><p>Zhou N. (2008). Status of China’s Energy Efficiency Standards and Labels for Applances and International Collaboration. USA: Ernest Orlando Berkeley National Laboratory.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/behaviour-change-catalysts#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - long termSmall scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy efficiencyEnergy savingQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 14:35:15 +0000Erwin Hofman7446 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgEnergy management and performance improvementhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/energy-management-and-performance-improvement
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/energy-management-and-performance-improvement" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="900" height="600" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/empi_teaser_image.jpg?1373031991" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Once various energy efficiency measures have been deployed in a building, energy management and performance improvements can be put in place as a set of tools to: (1) Ensure energy systems’ performance meet the design intention, through proper commissioning during building handover procedure. (2) Monitor, evaluate and manage the energy performance to optimise occupants’ comfort and a building’s functions, while maintaining energy efficiency, through Building Energy Management System (BEMS).</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p><em><strong>Commissioning</strong></em> originally referred to the testing and rectifying deficiencies of heating-ventilation-andair-conditioning (HVAC) systems of a building to meet established standards prior to the owner taking over the building. Today, commissioning recognises “the integrated nature of all systems that affect a building performance, impact sustainability, workplace productivity, occupant safety and security” (US GSA, 2005). Commissioning is considered as a quality control process that presupposes correct<em> </em>functions and performances of all technical systems and building components during building handover. In many countries, commissioning is a mainstream practice and compulsory under building codes. Tools to assist commissioning activities have been developed and range from a simple checklist form to a sophisticated matrix form. The matrix organises various commissioning aspects against the stages of building development from design to operation. Various computational tools have also been developed to assist the commissioning activities. An example is the MQC_JP matrix developed for Microsoft Excel users. The matrix enables the storage of large number of data and easy navigation. MQU-JP matrix can be customised to suit a specific project (IEA, 2008).</p><p><em><strong>Building Energy Management System </strong>(see also the specific article on '<a href="http://climatetechwiki.org/technology/jiqweb-bems" title="BEMS | ClimateTechWiki">BEMS</a>')</em> is a computer based control system installed in buildings. BEMS integrates the monitor and control of mechanical and electrical systems within a building into an overall control and optimisation strategy related to energy, occupant comfort, etc. Systems and subsystems to be managed by BEMS include but are not limited to chillers, plant optimisation control, lighting features and dimmer controllers, indoor air quality control, plumbing and other electrical-related systems. BEMS has the capability to respond proactively to alarms and trace the sources of problems. BEMS also gathers, analyses and controls building performance data such as temperature, humidity, levels of carbon dioxide, room illumination, etc., of various spaces in a building. BEMS’s components are generally laid out in a four-level system:</p><ol><li>Sensors, switches, etc., at the field (equipment) level</li><li>Outstations and discrete controllers at the control level</li><li>Central station with a computer based control system at the operation level</li><li>Central station communication via gateways at the management level.</li></ol><p>BEMS, in its most recent form, benefits from advanced development of intelligent/smart technologies and communications, such as wireless technologies. These technologies empower BEMS to extend its scope, such as optimising energy efficiency through interoperable services and dynamic control of multiple equipments and technological systems. Other advanced approaches include communication among sensors, context-aware, user-adaptive, prioritisation of information, etc. (European Commission, 2009). For example, lighting sensors from a room’s daylight system can send signals of overcast sky to BEMS. The system then analyses data from motion sensors installed in the room to detect whether the room is in use, in order to decide to whether to automatically switch on supplemental artificial lighting. Such data are also used to determine whether air-conditioning in that particular room should be turned off or remain to be on.</p><p><em><strong>Energy Performance Contracting</strong></em> (EPC) is a performance-based procurement method and financial mechanism for building renewal. The utility bill savings resulting from the installation of new building systems that reduce energy use are used to pay for the cost of the building renewal project. A ‘Guaranteed Energy Savings ’Performance Contract includes language that obligates the contractor, a qualified Energy Services Company (ESCO), to pay the difference if at any time the savings fall short of the guarantee.’(EPC Watch, 2007). ESCO provides integrated solutions to achieve energy efficiency and thus energy cost reduction. ESCO’s activities include:</p><ol><li>Carrying out energy audits</li><li>Providing consultancy services to improve energy efficiency</li><li>Operating and maintaining installations</li><li>Facility management, energy management including demand monitoring and management</li><li>Modifying/upgrading electricity-consuming equipment</li><li>Providing energy and thermal energy supply from district heating/cooling, co-generation or trigeneration.</li></ol><p>Payments to ESCO services are linked to the performance of the implemented solutions (KPMG, 2009).</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Alternative Energy Africa News (13/05/2010). Analysis Offers Insight to Building Management Systems. [Online]: <a href="http://www.ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=2037&amp;PHPSESSID=b014def7eb758525de05f8d001265dd3" title="www.ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=2037&amp;PHPSESSID=b014def7eb758525de05f8d001265dd3" rel="nofollow">www.ae-africa.com/read_article.php?NID=2037&amp;PHPSESSID=b014def7eb758525de...</a></p><p>Bertoldi P., Rezessy S. &amp; Urge-Vorsatz D. (2005). Tradale Certificates for Energy Savings: Opportunities, Challenges &amp; Prospects for Integration with other Market Instruments in the Energy Sector. In Energy and Environment, 16(6), pp.959-992.</p><p>EPC Watch (2007). Measurement &amp; Verification of Energy Efficiency Projects: Guidelines. [Online]: <a href="http://energyperformancecontracting.org/Guide-MandV1.pdf" title="http://energyperformancecontracting.org/Guide-MandV1.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://energyperformancecontracting.org/Guide-MandV1.pdf</a></p><p>European Commission (2009). ICT for a Low Carbon Economy: Smart Buildings. Brussels: ICT for Sustainable Growth Unit, European Commission.</p><p>Goldman C., Hopper N. &amp; Osborn J. (2005). Review of US ESCO Industry Market Trends: an Empirical Analysis of Project Data. In Energy Policy, 33, pp.387-405.</p><p>IEA (2008). Commissioning Tools for Improved Energy Performance. [Online]: <a href="http://www.ecbcs.org/docs/Annex_40_Commissioning_Tools_for_Improved_Energy_Performance.pdf" title="www.ecbcs.org/docs/Annex_40_Commissioning_Tools_for_Improved_Energy_Performance.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.ecbcs.org/docs/Annex_40_Commissioning_Tools_for_Improved_Energy_Perf...</a></p><p>KPMG (2009). Central and Eastern European District Heating Outlook. Budapest, Hungary: KPMG Energy &amp; Utilities Centre of Excellent Team.</p><p>Levine M., Urge-Vorsatz D., Blok K., Geng L., Harvcey D., Lang S., Levermore G., Mongameli Mehlwana A., Mirasgedis S., Novikova A., Rillig J. &amp; Yoshino H. (2007). Residential and Commercial Buildings. In Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Metz B, Davidson O. R., Boshch P. R., Dave R. &amp; Meyer L. A. (eds)]. United Kingdom &amp; United States: Cambridge University Press.</p><p>Lohnert G., Dalkowski A. &amp; Sutter W. (2003). Integrated Design Process Guideline. Berlin/Zug: International Energy Agency.</p><p>US GSA (2005). The Building Commissioning Guide. Washington D.C.: US General Services Administration.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/energy-management-and-performance-improvement" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/energy-management-and-performance-improvement#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - long termSmall scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy efficiencyEnergy savingQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 13:55:26 +0000Erwin Hofman7445 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgSolar technologieshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/solar-technologies
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/solar-technologies" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="650" height="430" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/solar_teaser_image.jpg?1373029189" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Solar technologies facilitate the extraction of a renewable energy source by harnessing power from the sun. There are two technological principles that can be used to achieve this: (1) Collecting thermal energy from the sun, known as solar thermal; and (2) Converting light into electricity, through the photovoltaic process. Both solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) can be integrated into buildings. Applications for PV include building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), solar home systems (non-grid connected) and solar charging stations.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p><em><strong>Solar thermal water heater</strong></em>. In its most basic form, the system consists of a collector and a water storage tank. The collector is a flat plate comprising a black coloured metal sheet with metal tubes attached to it. The metal sheet is backed by a thermal insulation layer, and covered on top with a glass panel to reduce convective heat loss and provide protection from the weather. The collector tube is connected to a water tank which is located on top of the collector. The collector absorbs solar heat radiation, which is transmitted to the water circulated in the metal tube. The heated water then rises and is stored at the water tank through natural convection. Cool water automatically fills the space in the metal tube.</p><p>Recently, the use of solar thermal energy has expanded to include dual use systems, combining both water heating and space heating (combi-systems). These systems reduce energy consumption for space heating during the winter season for buildings located in temperate regions. One disadvantage is that the systems have to discharge surplus heat during the hot summer season. This issue has been overcome by combining solar cooling and combi-systems, which maximises the usage of solar thermal technologies year-round (Troi et al., 2008). Solar cooling makes good sense for application in hot climatic regions. During a typical day, the peak demand for space cooling matches the peak of solar radiation. As such, the large scale implementation of solar cooling technology will contribute to reduced electricity peak loads.</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p><em><strong>BIPV</strong></em>. A BIPV system consists of PV panels and a DC-AC inverter. A PV panel includes a series of connected cells made of semiconductor materials. When PV modules are exposed to sunlight, they generate direct current (DC) electricity, which is most often converted to alternating current (AC) electricity – a common form of electricity that can be used in most current appliances and lighting systems. The AC electricity can then be fed into one of the building’s AC distribution boards, or connected to the main electricity grid. PV panels, which are integrated into the roof, façade, skylight or sun-shading devices, are referred to as building integrated photovoltaic technologies (BIPV). With BIPV, PV modules are usually used as a substitute for other building components, e.g., sun-shading devices, thereby offsetting some of the cost.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p><p>Although considered to be a proven technology, PVs are still under research and development, especially to increase the efficiency of energy production and to reduce manufacturing costs. The common PV technologies can be broadly categorised into two groups – crystalline silicon and thin film. Crystalline silicon technologies account for the majority of PV cell production, whereas thin film is newer, less efficient, but growing in popularity (EMA &amp; BCA, 2009).</p><p>[media:image:3]</p><p><em><strong>Solar home system</strong></em>: is developed based on photovoltaic (PV) technologies and integrated with DC-electricity-based appliances. It is the most suitable technology used in remote and rural areas, which are not served by the electricity grid (Grimshaw &amp; Lewis, 2010). The technology has been implemented in villages and remote settlements in Africa and Asia. A typical system consists of a 10 to 50 Watt Peak PV module, charging controller, storage battery, and various end-use equipment that operate with DC electricity (e.g., fluorescent lamps, radio, television, fan, etc.).</p><p>[media:image:4]</p><p><em><strong>Solar charging station</strong></em>: is another application for PV technologies. A typical solar charging station includes PV module(s) to generate electricity, a charging controller to normalise the voltage, and a battery bank to store the DC electricity. The electricity from the battery bank can then be used to charge batteries for various uses, such as lights, mobile phones, and other DC-electricity-based appliances.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Abbaspour M., Hennicke P., Massarrat M. &amp; Seifried D. (2005). Case Study: Solar Thermal Energy in Iran Saving energy, realising net economic benefits and protecting the environment by investing in energy efficiency and renewable energies. Heinrich Böll Foundation. [Online]:http://www.ceers.org/News/Solar_Iran-Execut_Summary.pdf</p><p>Davies C. (2010). Solar energy brings power to rural Africa. CNN News. [Online]: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/08/10/solar.energy.africa/#fbid=qcXZ7rtCWtX&amp;wom=false" title="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/08/10/solar.energy.africa/#fbid=qcXZ7rtCWtX&amp;wom=false" rel="nofollow">http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/08/10/solar.energy.africa/#f...</a></p><p>DLS. (2009). Green Building Products and Technologies Handbook. Singapore: Davis Langdon &amp; Seah Singapore Pte Ltd.</p><p>EMA &amp; BCA (2009). Handbook for Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Systems. Singapore: Energy Market Authority &amp; Building and Construction Authority.</p><p>Grimshaw J. D. &amp; Lewis S. (2010). Solar power for the poor: facts and figures. Science and Development Network. [Online]:www.scidev.net/en/south-asia/features/solar-power-for-the-poor-facts-and-figures-1.html</p><p>IEA (2009). World Energy Outlook 2009. Paris: International Energy Agency.</p><p>Kaufman S. (1990). Rural Electrification with Solar Energy as a Climate Protection Strategy. Renewable Energy Policy Project. [Online]: <a href="http://www.repp.org/repp_pubs/articles/resRpt09/00bExSum.htm" title="http://www.repp.org/repp_pubs/articles/resRpt09/00bExSum.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.repp.org/repp_pubs/articles/resRpt09/00bExSum.htm</a></p><p>Levine M., Urge-Vorsatz D., Blok K., Geng L., Harvcey D., Lang S., Levermore G., Mongameli Mehlwana A., Mirasgedis S., Novikova A., Rillig J. &amp; Yoshino H. (2007). Residential and Commercial Buildings. In Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Metz B, Davidson O. R., Boshch P. R., Dave R. &amp; Meyer L. A. (eds)]. United Kingdom &amp; United States: Cambridge University Press.</p><p>Troi A. Vougiouklakis Y., Korma E., Jahnig D., Wiemken E., Franchini G., Mugnier D,. Egilegor B., Melograno P. &amp; Sparber W. (2008). Solar Combi+: Identification of most promising markets and promotion of standardised system configurations for small scale solar heating &amp; cooling applications.Solar Combi+. [Online]:www.solarcombiplus.eu/NR/rdonlyres/A1CE3D58-F612-4A70-9F7B-3CF4BE041209/0/EUROSUN08_EURAC.pdf</p><p>Weiss W., Bergmann I. &amp; Faninger G. (2005). Solar Heating Worldwide, Markets and Contribution to the Energy Supply 2003. Austria: IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/solar-technologies" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/solar-technologies#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termsolar photovoltaicUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingssolar thermalResidential and officesClimate control: heating and coolingElectricityQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 13:16:45 +0000Erwin Hofman7444 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgGreening the built environmenthttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/greening-built-environment
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/greening-built-environment" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="750" height="514" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/greening_teaser_image.jpg?1373027265" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Greening the built environment is one of the most feasible and cost effective mitigation options for building sectors in rural and low density urban areas. Simple techniques, such as providing a garden and a pond, can be found in traditional houses in many countries. Taking a traditional house setting in Vietnam for example, plants in the garden provide vegetables and fruit, absorb carbon dioxide, offer shade and cool the ambient temperature.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p><em><strong>Green roofs</strong></em> are covered extensively with vegetation, such as grass or shrubs using an integrated support system. This system often includes substrate, filter, irrigation, water storage and drainage systems as well as water proofing of a roof surface/structure. In-situ installation is a conventional green roof application. It involves assembling the green roof layer by layer directly on the roof. The size and shape of the layers are configured to suit the roof design. Green roofs are designed to be lightweight, and typically cannot support heavy activities, just maintenance.</p><p><em><strong>Roof gardens, balcony gardens and sky terraces</strong></em> are gardens with plants located on rooftops, balconies and terraces of buildings with accessibility for outdoor activities. Plants on these gardens can be more diverse and often include trees in addition to grass and shrubs. Depending on the type of plants it supports, soil depth typically ranges from 0.2m to over 1m (NParks, 2002). Integrated irrigation, drainage and waterproofing of the roof surface are common components of a rooftop garden.</p><p><em><strong>Green façades/wall</strong></em> sallow plants to grow on building façades/wall surfaces through various means i.e., creepers with self clinging roots on wall surfaces, twining plants on mesh or cable support, and carrier panels with pre-grown plants fixed vertically on walls (NParks, 2010). Lightweight supporting structures can be made of polypropylene-based or synthetic fabric materials, while lightweight growing mediums consist mainly of volcanic stones and pumice.</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>Although building integrated greenery systems are not a new concept, their application has been picked up in recent years offering opportunities for further research and development, innovation and improvement.</p><p>An important ongoing research and development area is plant selection for various climatic regions and greenery systems. For green roof and green façades/wall applications, the selected vegetation must be able to thrive under intense sunlight and be drought-resistant. Selecting plants with shallow roots is a criterion to meet the light-weight and low maintenance nature of green roof systems. Other criteria in plant selection include:</p><ol><li>Plants with thicker and denser coverage of leaves for better shading effect and better thermal performance</li><li>Use of native plants to nurture local biodiversity.</li></ol><p>In the technological aspect, the performance of building integrated greenery systems has been improved, thanks to the development of new substrate system, built-in automatic irrigation systems with rain sensors, and built-in drainage systems. Such technologies help to make the greenery systems more lightweight, more water efficient, less maintenance intensive, and to eliminate potential water leakage problems.</p><p>The application of green roofs and green façades/walls is also shifting from in-situ application (i.e., assembling the green roof layer by layer directly on the roof) to modular based. Such application provides shorter installation time, minimum risk of damaging building materials, flexibility in design (in terms of mixing and matching various type of plants to create interesting design patterns), and ease of maintenance and replacement.</p><p>In green roofs, modules are small trays with sizes ranging from 0.25 to 2m<sup>2</sup>. Each tray is equipped with drainage, drip irrigation (optional), filter layer, substrate, media layer and grass/shrubs. In green façades/walls, modulisation is applicable for carrier system types. Each carrier panel is a module with a depth ranging from 100mm to 250mm. The modules can be lined up on a metal frame, which is fixed onto façade/wall surface. Irrigation and drainage pipes are interconnected between the modules and hidden within or behind the frame.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Chiang K. &amp; Tan A. (2009). Vertical Greenery for the Tropics. Singapore: National Parks Board, National University of Singapore and Building and Construction Authority.</p><p>China Real Estate News. (2010). Green roof temperature can drop 20-40 degrees Celsius in summer. 26 July 2010. [Online]: <a href="http://www.chinarealestatenews.com/news/2010-07-26/86658" title="http://www.chinarealestatenews.com/news/2010-07-26/86658" rel="nofollow">http://www.chinarealestatenews.com/news/2010-07-26/86658</a></p><p>DLS. (2009). Green Building Products and Technologies Handbook. Singapore: Davis Langdon &amp; Seah Singapore Pte Ltd.</p><p>Dunnett N. &amp; Kingsbury N. (2008). Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls. Portland, USA and London, UK: Timber Press.</p><p>GRHC. (2008). Introduction to Green Walls Technology, Benefits and Design. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.</p><p>Johnston J. &amp; Newton J. (1993). Building Green: A Guide to Using Plants on Roofs, Walls and Pavements. London: London Ecology Unit</p><p>NParks (2002). Handbook on Skyrise Greening in Singapore (1st edition). Singapore: National Parks Board and National University of Singapore.</p><p>NParks (2010). Green Roof Incentive Scheme. [Online]: <a href="http://www.skyrisegreenery.com/index.php/home/gris/green_roof_incentive_scheme" title="www.skyrisegreenery.com/index.php/home/gris/green_roof_incentive_scheme" rel="nofollow">www.skyrisegreenery.com/index.php/home/gris/green_roof_incentive_scheme</a></p><p>Ong B.L., Cam C.N., Zhang J. &amp; Wang C.N. (2003). An Investigation into the Application of Green Plot Ratio: the Case Study of One North. Research Report. Singapore: National University of Singapore.</p><p>Peck S. W., Callaghan C., Bass B. &amp; Kuhn M. E. (1999). Greenbacks from Green Roofs: Forging a New Industry in Canada. Research Report. Ottawa: Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).</p><p>Wong N. H., Chen Y., Ong C. L., and Sia A. (2003). Investigation of Thermal Benefits of Rooftop Garden in the Tropical Environment. Building and Environment. 38(2003) p. 261-270.</p><p>Wong N. H., Tan A. Y. K., Chen Y., Sekar K., Tan P. Y., Chan D., Chiang K., &amp; Wong N. C. (2009). Thermal Evaluation of Vertical Greenery Systems for Building Walls. Building and Environment. [Online]: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.08.005" title="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.08.005" rel="nofollow">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.08.005</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/greening-built-environment" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/greening-built-environment#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy efficiencyEnergy savingQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 12:32:04 +0000Erwin Hofman7443 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgCarbon sink and low-carbon building materialshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/carbon-sink-and-low-carbon-building-materials
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/carbon-sink-and-low-carbon-building-materials" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="500" height="335" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/carbon_sink_materials_teaser_image.gif?1373024950" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Materials and products used in building, such as steel and aluminum, are created by a production process of raw material extraction, raw material process, melting, manufacture to final products, and transportation to building site. Each of the steps consumes energy, which is also expressed in terms of carbon emissions. Total carbon emissions of all building materials and products and the construction involved to put them together is known as building’s embodied carbon. Embodied carbon accounts for about 20% of the carbon emissions from the building sector (Lane, 2010).</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Reducing embodied carbon is one of the simple and practical mitigation options for the building sector by utilising carbon sink and low carbon materials and products in buildings. Carbon sink building materials are mainly sourced from harvested wood products (HWPs). Wood is harvested from trees that capture carbon through the process of photosynthesis. Fifty per cent of the dry weight of wood is carbon, and the amount of carbon in 1m3 of wood is similar to that in about 350 litres of gasoline (Labbe, 2010). It is important to ensure that the wood comes from sustainably managed plantations. Wood from illegal forest logging is not carbon-neutral and should not be used at all. Illegal logging permanently destroys vast natural carbon sinks and their associated biodiversity, which can not be easily restored. Using non-sustainable source harvest wood products is more environmentally detrimental than the benefits of using low-carbon materials in buildings.</p><p>Not all building materials can be carbon-sinks. In such cases, low carbon building materials should be used as much as possible. Low-carbon building materials can be sourced from materials with both low embodied energy and carbon in their production, assembly, and transportation processes. Due to the broad-based definition, low-carbon building materials are interpreted differently in different contexts. For example, metal products are considered to be high-embodied carbon materials because the extraction and refinement processes involved are carbon intensive. However, recycled metal products used in new buildings can be considered low-carbon.</p><p><em><strong>Carbon sink building materials and products</strong></em>. The harvested wood building materials and products include flooring and cladding materials, window frames, doors, furniture, structural columns, beams and rafters. Bamboo products have recently received a lot of attention, due to its fast-growth, renewability and availability in both tropical and subtropical climates. Laminated bamboo has been found to be tougher than soft steel, and the surface is harder than that of red oak timber and fibreglass. Consequently, bamboos have been widely used in building structures, screen walls and as roofing components. Bamboo products have also found application in the high-end building market, for example, treated bamboo flooring.</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>Low carbon building materials and products have been the subject of research and development. This has resulted in many innovative building material products through the use of by-products and recycled products. Some examples of recently developed low-carbon materials and products in the market include:</p><ol><li>Low-carbon bricks. These have been rolled out for mass production and implementation since 2009. The use of 40% fly ash (Ritch, 2009) helps to reduce embodied carbon found in conventional bricks. Fly ash is a fine glass powder that consists primarily of silica, iron and alumina. It is a byproduct of coal combustion from electricity generation and is disposed of after being separated from the flue gas.</li><li>Green concrete. The raw materials to form conventional concrete can be substituted with byproducts of industrial processes and recycled materials. For example, carbon intensive Portland cement can be substituted by fly ash and granulated blast-furnace slag. Aggregate or sand can be substituted by washed copper slag, and granite by recycled granite from demolished debris.</li><li>Green tiles. These are ceramic material made from over 55% recycled glass and other minerals. The products turn waste glass into tiles for use in building’s internal and external flooring and cladding. The sparkling recycled glass components add an aesthetic quality to the products.</li><li>Recycled metals. The production process of metal products is highly carbon intensive. However, the life cycle performance of metal products can significantly reduce their production energy consumption, for example, by 95% for aluminium, 80% for lead, 75% for zinc and 70% for copper. This is because repeatedly recycled metals can still maintain their properties (Stewart et al., 2000). Other forms of utilising metal products without the full recycling process (which includes re-melting the old metal products and re-moulding them into new products) is to reuse existing metal structural components, such as steel columns and beams that still maintain their structural performance. Lastly, building-unrelated metal products, such as shipping containers, can also be adaptively reused in new building projects.</li></ol><p>In addition to the examples above, there are many other innovative low carbon products available and many more are undergoing research and development.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Labbe S. (2010). Influence of Material Use in Green Building Policies (A Convenient Truth). Presentation at UNECE Timber Committee Market Discussions and Policy Forum. 11-14 Oct 2010.[Online]: <a href="http://timber.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/meetings/20101011/01-labbe.pdf" title="http://timber.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/meetings/20101011/01-labbe.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://timber.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/meetings/20101011/01-labbe.pdf</a></p><p>Lane T. (4 June 2010). Embodied energy: The next big carbon challenge. Building.co.uk. [Online]: <a href="http://www.building.co.uk/technical/embodied-energy-the-next-big-carbon-challenge/5000487.article" title="http://www.building.co.uk/technical/embodied-energy-the-next-big-carbon-challenge/5000487.article" rel="nofollow">http://www.building.co.uk/technical/embodied-energy-the-next-big-carbon-...</a></p><p>Lou Y.P., Li Y.X., Kathleen B., Giles H. &amp; Zhou G. (2010). Bamboo and Climate Change Mitigation. Beijing: International Network for Bamboo and Rattan.</p><p>Ritch E. (27, Oct. 2009). CalStar gives sneak peek of low-carbon brick factory. Cleantech Group LLC. [Online]: <a href="http://cleantech.com/news/5217/calstar-flyash-low-carbon-brick" title="http://cleantech.com/news/5217/calstar-flyash-low-carbon-brick" rel="nofollow">http://cleantech.com/news/5217/calstar-flyash-low-carbon-brick</a></p><p>Ruter S. (2010).Consideration of Wood Products in Climate Policies and its Linkage to Sustainable Building Assessment Schemes. In Proceedings of the International Convention of Society of Wood Science and Technology and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe – Timber Committee, October 11-14, 2010, Geneva, Switzerland.</p><p>Stewart D.L., Daley J.C. &amp; Stephens R.L. (Eds.) (2000). The Importance of Recycling to the Environmental Profile of Metal Products. Pittsburgh: The Mineral, Metals &amp; Materials Society.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/carbon-sink-and-low-carbon-building-materials#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - long termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy savingQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 11:50:21 +0000Erwin Hofman7442 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgWater efficiencyhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/water-efficiency
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/water-efficiency" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="400" height="277" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/water_efficiency_teaser_image.jpg?1373020586" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>The use of water in buildings has an indirect but large contribution to energy and resource consumption. The production and distribution of water for buildings is an energy-intensive activity. Energy is used to purify fresh water sources to a level that is safe for consumption in buildings and to run pumps for cleansing and distribution. In many regions where fresh water is a scarce resource, additional energy is required to extract water from deep underground, to transport water from a long distance, or to operate an energy-intensive desalination plant, etc.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Four key water efficiency technologies for buildings are discussed in this section: metering and water consumption information, rainwater harvesting systems, grey water re-use systems, hydro-pneumatic water supply systems, and water-saving devices.</p><p><em><strong>Metering and water consumption information</strong></em> is one of the key technologies to help manage water consumption. Conventionally, water consumption information is only provided in a form of monthly water bills without much detail in water consumption. Moreover, in many cases, users do not have access to such information, such as in commercial buildings or in multi-dwelling building complexes, where many units share one common water meter. Separate metering and provision of detailed water consumption information helps users to monitor the amount of water consumed and their consumption patterns. They help users to become more conscious in their daily water consumption and catalyse water saving behaviours.</p><p><em><strong>Rainwater harvesting systems</strong></em> facilitate collecting good quality water from natural precipitation. The most popular method of harvesting rainwater is collection from roofs or other building surfaces. A simple system includes roof gutter and downspouts, which run into a storage tank. A detachable downspout is often used to exclude the first runoff during a rainstorm. The first runoff is usually contaminated with dust, leaves, insects or bird droppings.</p><p>An advanced rainwater harvesting system includes a water treatment system (e.g., solar distillation), so that the harvested water can be treated to a potable level. An example of innovative rainwater harvesting application in multi-storey buildings places the rainwater storage immediately under the roof to take advantage of gravity for landscaping irrigation, toilet flushing, and other non-potable water usages.</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p><em>See also the specific article on '<a href="http://climatetechwiki.org/content/rainwater-harvesting" title="Rainwater harvesting | ClimateTechWiki">Rainwater harvesting</a>'.</em></p><p><em><strong>Grey water reuse systems</strong></em> recycle and reuse grey water from shower/bath drain, basins and sinks for non-potable water uses, such as toilet flushing and irrigation, within a building. A grey water reuse system often consists of a piping network to channel grey water from its sources to a treatment system (e.g., sand filter and filtering planter), a holding tank, and distribution pipe to end use points, such as the irrigation system.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p><p><em><strong>Hydro-pneumatic water supply systems</strong></em> introduce air pressure into water tanks as a key energy-saving component in water supply systems for building use. The compressed air in the tank serves three main functions;</p><ol><li>Supplying water at a preset pressure range</li><li>Reducing pressure surges in the water supply systems</li><li>Using the pressure setting to monitor and control water pumps. Energy saving is achieved through reduced energy consumption from water pumps.</li></ol><p><em><strong>Water-saving devices</strong></em>: Four types of water saving device have been developed to save water consumption in buildings. First type of products applies aeration technology which mixes air to the water flow to reduce the amount of water released. This type of device acts as a water flow regulator and can be as simple as a thimble that can be fixed onto almost any domestic water tap, such as those at kitchen sinks and hand wash basins. Kitchen sink taps fixed with flow regulator can achieve a flow rate of less than 6 litres per minute without compromising the water pressure. Compared to the 15 litres per minute flow rate in typical kitchen water taps without regulators, the devices reduce water consumption by more than 60%. Aeration technology has also been applied to showerheads to achieve a flow rate of less than 5 litres per minute.</p><p>[media:image:3]</p><p>The second type improves the design of toilets and urinals to reduce the amount of water released, while maximising the cleaning effect. For example, a water efficient urinal with a standard 300mm width only requires less than 0.5 litres of water per flush. For toilets, dual flushing cisterns have been developed to accommodate different flushing requirements. The recommended capacity is 4.5 litres or less for a full flush, and less than 3 litres for a half flush (BCA, 2007).</p><p>[media:image:4]</p><p>The third type relates to <a href="http://climatetechwiki.org/content/water-efficient-fixtures-and-appliances" title="Water efficient fixtures and appliances | ClimateTechWiki">water saving appliances</a>, such as dishwashers and clothes washers. Technology development and new designs have resulted in significant water savings for these devices. For example, water saving dishwashers use about 14-38 litres of water, compared to the conventional ones that use 34-45 litres of water per load of dishes. The new design approach of clothes washers has moved away from top-loading models to front-end loading ones that use a tumbling action to wash clothes. Front-end loading washers use 30-50% less water, as well as 50-60% less energy to operate, compared to toploading washers.</p><p>[media:image:5]</p><p>The fourth type relates to the design and application of automation technologies in landscape irrigation systems. For example, water saving <a href="http://climatetechwiki.org/content/drip-irrigation" title="Drip irrigation | ClimateTechWiki">drip irrigation</a> systems use 30%-50% less water than sprinkler irrigation systems. Drip irrigation systems supply water directly to the roots of plants at a slow speed. As a result, water run-off and evaporation rates are kept to a minimum (BCA, 2007). Advanced water saving irrigation technologies also include automated controls that can be used with rain sensors. Irrigation is stopped when rain is detected. An automatic drip water irrigation system with rain sensors and timer controls in tropical regions can save 23% of the annual water consumption in a large building complex (BCA, 2007).</p><p>[media:image:6]</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>BCA (2007). Green Building Design Guide – Air-conditioned Buildings. Singapore: Building and Construction Authority.</p><p>Brandes M. O., Renzetti S., and Stinchcombe K. (2010). Worth Every Penny:A Primer on Conservation-Oriented Water Pricing. POLIS Project on Ecological Governance, University of Victoria. [Online]: <a href="http://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/.../POLIS-Primer-on-Conservation-Rate-" title="www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/.../POLIS-Primer-on-Conservation-Rate-" rel="nofollow">www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/.../POLIS-Primer-on-Conservation-Rate-</a> Structures-May-2010.pdf</p><p>District of Saanich (accessed on 20 Mar. 2011). Tap By Tap Energy and Water Saving Fixture Exchange. [Online]: <a href="http://www.saanich.ca/living/climate/tapbytap.html" title="http://www.saanich.ca/living/climate/tapbytap.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.saanich.ca/living/climate/tapbytap.html</a></p><p>DLS. (2009). Green Building Products and Technologies Handbook. Singapore: Davis Langdon &amp; Seah Singapore Pte Ltd.</p><p>Government of Western Australia (2010). Approved Grey Water Reuse Systems. [Online]: <a href="http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/cproot/1342/2/Approved%20Greywater%20Reuse%20Systems.pdf" title="www.public.health.wa.gov.au/cproot/1342/2/Approved%20Greywater%20Reuse%20Systems.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.public.health.wa.gov.au/cproot/1342/2/Approved%20Greywater%20Reuse%2...</a></p><p>Johnson Controls (accessed on 22 March 2011). Water and Energy Efficiency With Economic Impact. [Online]: <a href="http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en/products/building_efficiency/energy_efficiency/water_solutions/energypluswater.html" title="http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en/products/building_efficiency/energy_efficiency/water_solutions/energypluswater.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en/products/building_efficienc...</a></p><p>OECD (2009). Alternative Ways of Providing Water: Emerging Option and Their Policy Implications. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development: Working Party on Global and Structural Policies.</p><p>UNEP SBCI (2010). The ‘State of Play’ of sustainable buildings in India. Paris: United Nations Environment Programme, Sustainable Buildings and Climate Initiative, Paris. [Online]: <a href="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/State_of_play_India.pdf" title="http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/State_of_play_India.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/State_of_play_India.pdf</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/water-efficiency" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/water-efficiency#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - long termSmall scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsClean water provisionResidential and officesEnergy savingQuality AssuranceFri, 05 Jul 2013 10:40:55 +0000Erwin Hofman7441 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgEfficient lighting systemshttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/efficient-lighting-systems
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/efficient-lighting-systems" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="520" height="350" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/efficient_lighting_teaser_image.jpg?1372948030" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Lighting in is reported to consume as much as 21% of the total energy use in buildings (Levine et al., 2007), and to account for about 17.5% of global electricity use (Pike Research, 2010). A market shift to energy-efficient alternatives would reduce the world’s electricity demand for lighting by an estimated 18% (UNEP, 2009). Therefore, efficient lighting systems are one of the most important climate change mitigation measures for the building sector. Efficient lighting technologies include energy efficient lamps, ballasts and light fixtures.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Technologies used in modern artificial lamps to emit light include thermal radiators, discharge lamps, and electro-luminescent radiators. Thermal radiators, such as incandescent and halogen lamps are not energy efficient, in general. Lamps that generate light through thermal radiation require energy to heat a material to a high temperatures in order to give off light. Therefore, in addition to emitting light within visible light range, a large amount of radiation is emitted into the surroundings in the form of heat and radiation in other wavelengths. Discharge lamps (e.g., fluorescent lamps) generate light by means of electrical discharge through gases and vapours. They are more energy efficient than thermal radiator lamps. For example, compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) converts some 25% of the energy to visible light, while an incandescent lamp converts only 5% of the energy consumed into visible light, leaving 95% to be emitted as heat (UNEP, 2009).</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>Electro-luminescent radiators, used in light-emitting diodes (LED), are also energy efficient. LED relies on a semiconductor circuit to convert electrical current into light. This technology is at least ten times more efficient than incandescent lamps.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p><p>Different lamp types have different characteristics. The selection of energy efficient light should take into consideration the following criteria: high luminous efficacy (lumen/watt), miniaturisation, longer lifespan, use of recyclable materials, and avoiding hazardous substance (DLS, 2009).</p><p>In addition to lamps, ballast and luminaries also play a part in energy efficient lighting. Ballasts help to increase energy performance, such as a dimming function. Luminaries are generally made of reflective materials and in the form of lenses, refractors, louvres or blades to enhance light output by reflecting indirect light to brighten an area, such as surrounding walls, or task surfaces.</p><p>Energy efficient lamps. There are two groups of commonly used energy efficient lamps: gas-discharge lamps and LED. Gas-discharge lamps are classified into low-pressure lamps and high-pressure lamps. Low pressure lamps are also called fluorescent lamps. The technology includes linear T5/T8 tubes and CFL. Both are advanced technology with highly energy efficient performance, are compact in size and have a long lifespan. CFLs provide good diffuse light and are often used for downlighting and wall lighting. They can also be used for task lighting. High pressure lamps, also known as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, are another type of energy-efficient lamps. They are suitable for illuminating large areas and for outdoor applications. HID metal halide lamps, for example, have very high luminous efficacy and replacement life of up to 9,000 operating hours (Hausladen et al., 2005). PAR metal halide lamps with ceramic arctube enclosures have good colour rendering and can replace halogen lamps for accent lighting. One disadvantage of HID lamps is that they take longer to start. Therefore, they are more suitable for application in spaces requiring long hours of operation, where they are less frequently switched on and off.</p><p>LED lamps emit light in a very narrow spectral band but can produce white light that is good for application in daily life environments, such as homes and offices. White light can be formed by mixing individual LED lamps that emit red, green, and blue array, or coating a blue LED lamp with phosphor (Nelson, 2010). LED lamps have very long lifespan of 40,000 to 100,000 operating hours, depending on the colour. In the earlier stage of development, LED lamps had very limited applications, such as exit signs and decorative applications, due to having poor colour rendering index and poor efficacy. However, LED lamp technologies have been greatly improved, now they can be found in a wide range of applications – from landscaping lighting, task lighting, wall wash lighting, retail use spotlights, to lighting for artworks.</p><p><em><strong>Ballasts</strong></em> help to improve lamp efficacy, increase lamp lifespan and reduce power losses. High frequency electronic ballasts help to improve visual performance and eye fatigue. For example, the frequencies range of 20kHz and above provides high quality, non-flickering lighting that reduces strain to the eyes (Nelson, 2010). Dimming electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps help to reduce energy consumption when bright lighting is not required, i.e., in the space and at the time when daylight is strong.</p><p><em><strong>Light fixtures</strong></em> help enhance the performance of lighting output, improve distribution, control glare, and further increase energy efficiency. A variety of light fixtures designed to accommodate energy efficient lighting have become available in the retail market and for business uses. Examples of energy efficient light fixture applications are:</p><ol><li>Recessed downlights offer a round shape to be used with CFL lamps.</li><li>Linear strip light fixtures are mainly ceiling mounted with or without side reflectors typically used with T8 lamps. It is small in size, low-cost, and easily dimmed. It is most suitable for mechanical rooms, lockers, garages, etc. It can also be used for workplace ceiling lighting.</li><li>Wall sconces are wall mounted for decorative purposes, and can be used for CFL lamps. They can be used on lobby walls, corridors, formal meeting rooms, etc.</li><li>Indirect/direct linear light fixtures can be hung under a ceiling or be wall mounted and are usually used with T5s or T8s. In combination with bright ceiling surface, indirect linear light fixtures can provide soft and comfortable visual effect and are easily dimmed. Indirect linear light fixtures are usually applied in high ceiling spaces, such as classrooms.</li></ol><p>[media:image:3]</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>BCA (2007). Green Building Design Guide – Air-conditioned Buildings. Singapore: Building and Construction Authority.</p><p>Bhattacharya S. &amp; Cropper L. M. (2010). Options for Energy Efficiency in India and Barriers to Their Adoption: A Scoping Study. Washington D. C.: Resources for the Future.</p><p>DLS. (2009). Green Building Products and Technologies Handbook. Singapore: Davis Langdon &amp; Seah Singapore Pte Ltd.</p><p>en.lighten Initiative (2009). Efficient Lighting for Developing and Emerging Countries. [Online]: <a href="http://www.enlighten-initiative.org/Portals/94/Final%20English%20Brochure.pdf" title="http://www.enlighten-initiative.org/Portals/94/Final%20English%20Brochure.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.enlighten-initiative.org/Portals/94/Final%20English%20Brochur...</a></p><p>Goswami A., Dasgupta M. &amp; Nanda N. (2010). Mapping Climate Mitigation Technologies and Associated Goods within the Buildings Sector. India: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.</p><p>Hausladen G., Saldanha M., Liedl P. &amp; Sager C. (2005). Climate Design: Solutions for Buildings That Can Do More with Less Technology. Munich: Birkhauser.</p><p>Levine M., Urge-Vorsatz D., Blok K., Geng L., Harvcey D., Lang S., Levermore G., Mongameli Mehlwana A., Mirasgedis S., Novikova A., Rillig J. &amp; Yoshino H. (2007). Residential and Commercial Buildings. In Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Metz B, Davidson O. R., Boshch P. R., Dave R. &amp; Meyer L. A. (eds)]. United Kingdom &amp; United States: Cambridge University Press.</p><p>Mills E. (2005) The spectre of fuel-based lighting. In Science 308 (27 May) pp. 1263-1264.</p><p>Nelson D. (2010). Energy Efficient Lighting. In Whole Building Design Guide. USA: Whole Building Design Guide. [Online]: <a href="http://www.wbdg.org/resources/efficientlighting.php" title="http://www.wbdg.org/resources/efficientlighting.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.wbdg.org/resources/efficientlighting.php</a></p><p>Pike Research (5 May 2010). LED Lighting Penetration to Reach 46% of the Commercial Building Lamp Market by 2020. [Online]: <a href="http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/led-lighting-penetration-to-reach-46-of-the-commercial-building-lamp-market-by-2020" title="http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/led-lighting-penetration-to-reach-46-of-the-commercial-building-lamp-market-by-2020" rel="nofollow">http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/led-lighting-penetration-to-reach-4...</a></p><p>UNEP (25 Sep. 2009). Global Phase Out of Old Bulbs Announced by UN, GEF, and Industry (Press Release). [Online]: <a href="http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/News/PressRelease/tabid/428/language/fr-FR/Default.aspx?DocumentID=596&amp;ArticleID=6331&amp;Lang=en" title="http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/News/PressRelease/tabid/428/language/fr-FR/Default.aspx?DocumentID=596&amp;ArticleID=6331&amp;Lang=en" rel="nofollow">http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/News/PressRelease/tabid/428/langu...</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/efficient-lighting-systems" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/efficient-lighting-systems#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesResidential and officesLightingEnergy efficiencyEnergy savingQuality AssuranceThu, 04 Jul 2013 14:32:24 +0000Erwin Hofman7440 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgPassive house designhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/passive-house-design
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/passive-house-design" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="800" height="533" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/passive_house_teaser_image.jpeg?1372945771" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Increasing awareness of energy efficiency and climate change has led to new developments in the building sector, including the concept of passive house, low carbon buildings, and even zero emission buildings. Low carbon houses and zero emission buildings achieve their common objectives by applying all available green design techniques, strategies and technologies.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Feist W. (2005). First Steps: What Can be a Passive House in Your Region with Your Climate? Darmstadt: Passive House Institute.</p><p>Lang G. W. (2009). International Passivhaus Database 1. Period of Documentation 2007 – 2009: 20,000 Passivhaus Projects in Europe. Intelligent Energy Europe &amp; PASS-NET. [Online]: <a href="http://www.pass-net.net/downloads/pdf/report_international_ph-database.pdf" title="www.pass-net.net/downloads/pdf/report_international_ph-database.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.pass-net.net/downloads/pdf/report_international_ph-database.pdf</a></p><p>Passive House Institute (accessed on 20 Nov. 2010). Passive house Construction Check List. [Online]: <a href="http://www.passiv.de/07_eng/index_e.html" title="www.passiv.de/07_eng/index_e.html" rel="nofollow">www.passiv.de/07_eng/index_e.html</a></p><p>Torcellini P, Pless S., Deru M. &amp; Crawley D. (2006). Zero Energy Buildings: A Critical Look at the Definition. USA: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/passive-house-design" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/passive-house-design#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy efficiencyQuality AssuranceThu, 04 Jul 2013 13:52:12 +0000Erwin Hofman7439 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgTraditional building materials and designhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/traditional-building-materials-and-design
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/traditional-building-materials-and-design" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="800" height="600" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/traditional_building_teaser_image.jpg?1372944051" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>The use of traditional building materials and design is often found itself in a difficult situation, that is either being under the threat of perished under the force of modernisation or being innovatively implemented to meet modern building standards and living conditions. Traditional building materials and design have gained renewed attention in the green building movement, thanks to the use of locally accessible resources that address local conditions in a cost effective way.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p><em><strong>Earth-related building materials</strong></em>. In many non-urbanised areas in India, East Africa and South America, raw earth is abundant resource, which has popularly been used as building material. Over times, modern technologies have renovated the use of raw earth materials to improve their performance. For example, raw earth materials are converted into compressed earth blocks, made of a semi-dry mix of clay and sand and produced using a mechanised hydraulically compressed block machine. These blocks are reported to have a load-bearing strength two-thirds that of concrete masonry blocks (Mehta and Bridwell, 2004). A further improvement is achieved by mixing earth with a small percentage of cement during the production process to create compressed stabilised earth blocks. These blocks have better compressive strength and water resistance, and allow for thinner, higher walls to be built. Stabilised compressed blocks also take 3-5 times less energy to produce compared to conventional fired bricks (Auroville Earth Institute, 2009).</p><p>Stabilised rammed earth foundation is an innovative application of earth-related building materials. The soil, which is excavated from the trench foundation, is sieved and mixed with cement and sand to become construction materials for the building foundation. Stabilised rammed earth foundation has been reported to be used for buildings up to four storeys in height (Auroville Earth Institute, 2009).</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p><em><strong>Traditional Chinese practices of building orientation and interior space organisation</strong></em> were based on the belief of enhancing occupants’ health and wealth by tapping into the characteristics of natural materials and directional coordinates e.g., placement and orientation of windows, doorways, passages, interior and exterior layouts according to certain principles to promote positive ‘air and energy flow’ within a space. Such arrangements are believed to promote the positive health (mind and body) of occupants. The belief used to be criticised as having no scientific proof. However, recent research shows that many principles in these traditional practices of building orientation and interior space organisation are in line with certain sustainable building principles (Zhong and Ceranic, 2007). Furthermore, modern interpretations of certain traditional practices show that they are in line with the principles of sustainable building design. Some examples are highlighted in the next session – Feasibility of the technology and operational necessities.</p><p><em><strong>Traditional building design strategies in the Mediterranean</strong></em> demonstrate that local wisdom involves designing with the local climatic conditions in mind. Traditional Mediterranean buildings are generally oriented to the south with a long east-west axis, to respond to solar direction and summer breeze. A courtyard and a solarium (an internal space adjoining the courtyard) act as climate moderator for the whole building, and are almost always found in Mediterranean traditional building. Some key functions of the courtyard include creating a microclimate, e.g., providing shade and evaporative cooling during summer, and allowing sunshine during winter through planting deciduous vegetation, high external wall, water features, etc.</p><p>Traditional Mediterranean buildings have thick walls which are built from stone and sun-dried mud-brick and rendered with mud plaster. These materials allow the thick wall to smooth out the large diurnal temperature variations in summer, and to act as thermal mass to warm up the internal space at night during winter. The walls are also painted in white (which can still be seen on buildings on Greek islands) to reflect the harsh solar radiation of the arid climate. Small windows are strategically located high on walls to foster cross ventilation during the summer, and are closed with small dense bushes (acting as thermal insulation) during winter. Deep recessed windows on walls and overhang from elements such as balconies act as sun shading devices (Lapithis, 2004).</p><p><em><strong>Water-cooling envelope</strong></em> works based on evaporative cooling principle, in which the air temperature drops when the air volume takes up water by transforming it from liquid to vapour. The principle is applied through providing water film over the surface of building envelope, especially the roof, to bring down its temperature below the ambient air’s temperature. The roof surface will then act as a means for heat to be transmitted from inside the building to the ambient air. The process cools the air without increasing the humidity inside the room, and thus improves the room’s thermal comfort level.</p><p>Innovative implementations of this principle include the installation of water sprayers on the roof, or roofpond systems. The roof-pond system includes a water pond on the roof with operable reflective insulation. During hot summer days, the reflective insulation covers the whole pond and protects it from solar heat gain. The water body keeps receiving heat from the space below through the roof, and as such, cools the space below. During the summer night, the insulation is removed and the heat stored in the water body is released to the outdoor ambient air through evaporation, convection and radiation. During winter days, the insulation is removed so that the water and black surface of the roof absorbs solar radiation, and warms up the space below. During winter nights, the insulation covers the whole pond, so that the water body becomes thermal mass to keep the space below warm.</p><p>[media:image:2]</p><p>Another form of water-cooling envelope is found in some heritage Indian buildings, in which water pipes are installed inside the walls to cool the building. The application of water-cooling walls in the Lotus Mahalis an example. When the ambient temperature is higher, water in a storage tank is circulated in the hollow place inside the wall, and cools the building (Panasia Engineers, 2010).</p><p><strong><em>Wind towers</em></strong>: also known as wind catchers, apply evaporative cooling principles inside a building to supply cool air to ventilate the internal space. Wind towers are traditionally used in the Middle East, where daytime air temperature is high and humidity is low. A typical traditional wind tower comprises an air inlet facing the prevailing wind direction to scoop the wind into a vertical shaft. Immediately behind and below the air inlet is an earthenware jar of water, which is taken up and transformed into vapour by the dry air wind. During this evaporative process, the air becomes cooler and sinks. This reinforces the air movement downward, providing a draft of cool air to the interior. After the whole day exchanging heat, the wind tower gets warm in the evening. Therefore, a reverse airflow pattern occurs during the night, when cooler room ambient air comes in contact with the bottom of the warm shaft, becomes warm and rises. Such air movement, while providing ventilation to the interior space, cools the surface of the tower to be ready for the next daytime operation. Renovations to the application of the traditional wind towers include the design of moveable air inlet, which can automatically track the wind direction for more constant cool air supply to the room (s), and the use of mechanical mist spray instead of water jars to reduce maintenance needs.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Auroville Earth Institute (2009). Earth Based Technologies. [Online]: <a href="http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/4-cseb-en.pdf" title="www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/4-cseb-en.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/4-cseb-en.pdf</a></p><p>Lapithis P. (2004). Traditional vs. Contemporary vs. Solar Buildings. In Proceedings ISES Conference, Freiburg, Germany. 19-22 July 2004.</p><p>Mehta R. &amp; Bridwell L. (2004). Innovative Construction Technology for Affordable Mass Housing in Tanzanie, East Africa. In Construction Management and Economics (2004) 22. Spon Press.</p><p>Panasia Engineers Pte. Ltd. (2010). Providing Thermal Comfort In India Is a Whole New Ball Game. [Online]: <a href="http://www.panasiaengineers.com/pdf/Providing_Thermal_Comfort_In_India.pdf" title="http://www.panasiaengineers.com/pdf/Providing_Thermal_Comfort_In_India.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.panasiaengineers.com/pdf/Providing_Thermal_Comfort_In_India.pdf</a></p><p>Serghides K. D. (2010). The Wisdom of Mediterranean Traditional Architecture Versus Contemporary Architecture – the Energy Challenge. In The Open Construction and Building Technology Journal, 2010, 4, p.29-38.</p><p>Zhong Z. &amp; Ceranic B. (2007). FengShui – A Systematic Research of Vernacular Sustainable Development in Ancient China and Its Lessons for Future. 7th UK CARE Annual General Meeting, Greenwich, 15 Sep. 2007.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/traditional-building-materials-and-design" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/traditional-building-materials-and-design#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy savingQuality AssuranceThu, 04 Jul 2013 13:23:04 +0000Erwin Hofman7438 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgHousehold biogas digestershttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/household-biogas-digesters
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
D.C. Uprety </div>
<div class="field-item even">
Subash Dhar </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
Dong Hongmin </div>
<div class="field-item even">
Bruce A. Kimball </div>
<div class="field-item odd">
Amit Garg </div>
<div class="field-item even">
Jigeesha Upadhyay </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/household-biogas-digesters" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="355" height="233" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/household_biogas_teaser_image.jpg?1372934101" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>Biogas is a flammable gas produced by organic materials after it has been decomposed and fermented by anaerobic bacteria in tightly sealed environmental digesters under certain temperature, humidity, acidity and alkalinity conditions. The process in which biogas bacteria decompose organic materials to produce biogas is known as biogas fermentation. Manure-based biogas digesters refer to fermentation tanks which are used to treat animal manure including human waste via anaerobic fermentation.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>A biogas digester is composed of six parts: fermentation chamber, gas storage, inlet tube, outlet chamber, removable or sealed cover, and a gas pipe line (see in figure 1).</p><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>The mechanics of biogas generation can be described as follows:</p><ul><li>The captured gas is stored in the upper part of the digester tank (gas storage area), which is constructed in an arc shape. The generation of biogas will gradually increase the pressure in the stored area. When the volume of the captured gas is larger than the amount consumed, the pressure in the gas storage will increase and slurry will be pushed into the outlet chamber. If the amount of gas consumed exceeds gas availability, the slurry level drops and the fermented slurry flows back into fermentation chamber.</li><li>The placement of the digester tank (underground fermentation) keeps the temperature in the tank relatively stable ensuring that the slurry can be fermented at adequate temperatures throughout the year without requiring additional heating.</li><li>The bottom of the digester inclines from the material-feeding inlet to the material-outlet, allowing free flow of the slurry.</li><li>The digester has been designed to allow the effluent to be removed without breaking the gas seal, taking the effluent liquid out through the outlet chamber.</li></ul> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Wassmann R and Pathak H. (2007): Introducing greenhouse gas mitigation as a development objective in rice-based agriculture: II. Cost- benefit assessment for different technologies, regions and scales. Agricultural Systems 94:826-840.</p><p>Xu Zengfu, (1981): Biogas technology. China Agriculture Press, Beijing.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/household-biogas-digesters" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/household-biogas-digesters#commentsAgricultureEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)LivestockSmall scale - long termUse of primary energy sourcesManure ManagementResidential and officesBiomassCookingElectricityAgriculture, forestry and other land useQuality AssuranceThu, 04 Jul 2013 10:35:32 +0000Erwin Hofman7436 at http://www.climatetechwiki.orgBuilding life cycle and integrated design processhttp://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/building-life-cycle-and-integrated-design-process
<fieldset class="fieldgroup group-partners"><legend>Partners</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-author">
<div class="field-label">Author:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Wynn Chi-Nguyen Cam </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
<div class="field field-type-filefield field-field-teaser-image">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<a href="/technology/building-life-cycle-and-integrated-design-process" class="imagefield imagefield-nodelink imagefield-field_teaser_image"><img class="imagefield imagefield-field_teaser_image" width="960" height="663" title="Technology Teaser Image" alt="&amp;copy; ClimateTechWiki and respective owners" src="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/sites/climatetechwiki.org/files/images/teaser/building_life_cycle_teaser_image.jpg?1372688223" /></a> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p>The life cycle and integrated design process can be understood as a design process to deliver a building, in which its relationship to the surrounding context, technical components and technologies are parts of a whole system, for the whole building life cycle (Larsson, 2005). This objective can be obtained once interdisciplinary professional team members work collaboratively right from the inception and conceptual design to make strategic decisions and address all design issues.</p><div class="field field-type-text field-field-introduction">
<div class="field-label">Introduction:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>The typical elements of life cycle and integrated design process can be clustered into three groups:</p><ol><li>Interdisciplinary and interactive approach: an interdisciplinary team should be formed right from the project’s inception. The involved parties, depending on the complexity of the project, are the client, architect, engineers, quantity surveyor, energy consultant, landscape architect, facility manager, contractor (builder) and design facilitator (in more complex projects) (Lohnert et al., 2003). The team members first establish a set of agreed performance objectives, and work collaboratively to achieve these objectives.</li><li>Lifecycle based decision making: Decisions made during the design process, such as built form, orientation, design features, building materials, structural systems, mechanical and electrical equipments, should be based on a lifecycle assessment. The assessment should take into account the products’ or systems’ embodied energy, performance, lifecycle cost, lifespan and end-of-life.</li><li>Computer assisted design tools: the design of sustainable buildings has recently been made easier with growing number of computer assisted design tools. These tools simulate building environmental performances, and calculate the energy required for cooling or heating, CO2 emissions, life cycle analyses and so on. Simulation tools predict building environmental performance, usually for aspects such as sun path and sun shadow, daylight, computational fluid dynamics for air movement, etc. The tools make design strategies visible through graphic-based user interfaces. They are particularly useful for:</li><ul><li>Providing feedback to inform the design process. For example, a sun path analysis provides outputs that allows the design team firstly to identify the areas requiring sun shading devices, secondly to design the form and dimensions of sun shading devices for them to be effective, and thirdly to simulate and verify the performance of sun shading devices on the building model.</li><li>Comparing different design options, strategies, and technologies to facilitate the interdisciplinary team’s decision making process.</li></ul></ol><p>[media:image:1]</p><p>Computational simulation technologies have also been rapidly developed to facilitate decision making during the design process to enhance the environmental performance and cost effectiveness of buildings. The five main areas for which computational simulations are usually applied are listed below, with examples of software:</p><ol><li>Sun path and sun shadow simulation: ECOTECT</li><li>Daylight and glare simulation: Radiance, Daylight, DAYSIM</li><li>Thermal simulation: TAS, IES</li><li>Computational fluid dynamics (CFD): CONTAM, FLOVENT, FLUENT, IES</li><li>Energy demand and supply balance: Energy Plus, eQuest.</li></ol><p>In recent years, individual computer assisted design tools have gradually been replaced by an integrated, one-stop computational platform, that can serve as a drafting tool, visualisation tool, simulation of various environmental performance, local code compliance checking tool, and even a facility management tool. An example is Bentley Tas Simulator software V8i. The software provides:</p><ol><li>A design tool (to simulate natural ventilation, room loads, energy use, plant sizing, CO2 emissions, and running costs)</li><li>A compliance tool (i.e., simulation and calculation compliance with ISO and are approved for calculation methods to some British building regulations)</li><li>A facility management tool (for computing detailed and accurate energy use predictions, energy and<br />cost savings for operational and investment options) (Bentley, 2009).</li></ol><p>However, one-stop computational platforms are still at the market exploration stage and have yet been fully or widely implemented in building design practice.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-references">
<div class="field-label">References:&nbsp;</div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p>Bentley (2009). Product Data Sheet: Bentley® Simulator V8iIndustry – Leading Building Energy Modeling and Simulation. Bentley. [Online]: <a href="ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Building/BentleyTas/BentleyTAS-ProductDataSheet.pdf" title="ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Building/BentleyTas/BentleyTAS-ProductDataSheet.pdf" rel="nofollow">ftp://ftp2.bentley.com/dist/collateral/Web/Building/BentleyTas/BentleyTA...</a></p><p>Larsson N. (2005). Integrated Design Process. [Online]: <a href="http://www.iisbe.org/down/gbc2005/Other_presentations/IDP_overview.pdf" title="www.iisbe.org/down/gbc2005/Other_presentations/IDP_overview.pdf" rel="nofollow">www.iisbe.org/down/gbc2005/Other_presentations/IDP_overview.pdf</a></p><p>Larsson N. (2009). The Integrated Design Process; History and Analysis. iiSBE. [Online]: <a href="http://www.iisbe.org/system/files/private/IDP%20development%20-%20Larsson.pdf" title="http://www.iisbe.org/system/files/private/IDP%20development%20-%20Larsson.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.iisbe.org/system/files/private/IDP%20development%20-%20Larsso...</a></p><p>Public Works and Government Services Canada (06, Jan. 2011). Integrated Design Process (IDP). [Online]: <a href="http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/sngp-npms/conn-know/enviro/pci-idp-eng.html" title="http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/sngp-npms/conn-know/enviro/pci-idp-eng.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/sngp-npms/conn-know/enviro/p...</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<p><a href="http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/building-life-cycle-and-integrated-design-process" target="_blank">read more</a></p>http://www.climatetechwiki.org/technology/building-life-cycle-and-integrated-design-process#commentsEnergy supply and consumption (excl. industry)Small scale - short termUse of primary energy sourcesBuildingsResidential and officesEnergy savingQuality AssuranceMon, 01 Jul 2013 14:20:55 +0000Erwin Hofman7427 at http://www.climatetechwiki.org